Tamaki Explains Why Nintendo is Making so Few Traditional Metroid Games Lately

The Metroid series has been dormant for five years now, and although the Metroid-branded Federation Force is coming out in a matter of time, fans are thirsty for another spacefaring adventure starring Samus Aran. There have been a number of Metroid projects kicked around over the last few years, including Metroid Dread and a few conceptual games for Nintendo 3DS, but every one of them has ended up falling apart.

We brought in Liam Robertson, also known as Tamaki of Unseen64, forthis week’s episode of Gamnesia’s Nintendo podcast and asked him what on Earth is going on at Nintendo that prevents Metroid from returning to its former glory. Check out the discussion video above for the full answer and discussion, or keep reading below for a brief, brief summary.

Robertson explains that NCL, Nintendo’s executive branch in Japan, is extremely averse to taking financial risks with their projects. He says that the notion that Nintendo’s scared to make newMetroid games isn’t particular to the Metroid series, and applies to the way they invest in a lot of their franchises.

“It’s a combination of them being very risk-averse, not wanting to [screw] up Metroid again, and ‘when are their creative people going to be free?’ Let me just say, I think there is the potential that there’s a Metroid game in development—it’s whether we see it next year or the year after, I think. They’re always working on new Metroid stuff, and a lot of the time it just doesn’t materialize for one reason or another.” —Liam Robertson

For more fascinating information from our time with Tamaki, you can check out the full episode, which you can find either on iTunes, or embedded directly below—this discussion begins at about the one-hour mark. You could alsosubscribe to our YouTube channel, where we’ll be posting more of these discussion snippets throughout the coming week. And do be sure to stay tuned here on the site for more.

I first played Donkey Kong Country before even turning three years old, and have since grown into an avid gamer and passionate Nintendo fan. I started working at Zelda Informer in August 2012, and helped found Gamnesia, which launched on February 1, 2013. Outside of the journalism game, I'm an invested musician who loves arranging music from video games and other media. If you care to follow my endeavors, you can check out my channel here: http://youtube.com/user/pokemoneinstein
I was rummaging through some things a while back and found my first grade report card. My teacher said, "Oddly enough, Colin doesn't like to write unless it's about computers or computer-type games. In his journal he likes to write about what level he is on in 'Mario Land,' but he doesn't often write about much else." I was pretty amused, given where I am today.
Also I have a dog, and he's a pretty cool guy.
I don't care for elephants much. I suppose they're okay.
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